little house Albert and Sylvia married
by Merri Hasch
Summary: Albert and Sylvia are married living in a run down Walnut Grove, they meet some new neighbors that may change the course of their lives


Little house on the Prairie Story (The rough frontier) Chapter one: New Neighbors

Albert Ingalls was out on his farm doing the chores when a strange wagon pulled up in the drive way of their place. Albert heard his dog bark at the strange man coming off the buck board. He walks up to Albert and takes off his city slicker type hat.

Albert was surprised that he was a little bit older than what he was expecting but he disregarded it, and shook the man's hand, The man says "I am your new neighbor over yonder to the south my name is Johnson and I am John my wife who isn't with me is Emily." Albert smiles at the man and says "Hello sir welcome to the neighborhood of Walnut Grove, my name is Albert Ingalls if you wish my wife Sylvia is inside she'll have tea on the stove if you stay to visit".

John smiles kindly at Albert to say "Well, don't mind if I do, thank you for the offer". Albert smiles to say "Well, if you don't mind waiting for a minute let me get the cores watered I'll lead you inside the house". The polite older gentleman says "I don't mind waiting; if you want some help to get them done faster I will offer it". Albert shrugs to say "Suit yourself if you don't mind getting your clothes dirty".

John laughs to say "These old clothes have been dirty more than once in their day!" Albert smiles to say "Suit yourself sir; here I will let you water those two horses there on the far end I got the others done". John smiles at Albert and goes with the bucket to water the last two horses at the end of the line of stalls and animals.

Finally the animals fed and done, John and Albert stand there looking at the work done nice and tidy barn they smile at the effort was made to keep the animals comfy for the day. Albert turns to John to say "Ready for that cup of tea I promised?" John nods graciously and the two head to the little house.

Inside the little house Sylvia was busy with the tea kettle and two other little kids in the kitchen playing with the flour in the sack she hollers at the kids "James! Stop that! Alice quite taunting him to do it!" James and Alice say "Sorry Ma in unison. The flour had spilled all over Sylvia's kitchen table and on the floor, she sighs at the mess the kids made she grabs the dust pan and broom hands it over to Alice to sweep up.

She says "You taunted James all morning to make the mess now you have to clean it up"! Alice sighs then complains to her Ma, "Ma! I didn't he done it all by himself I just tried to stop him and the flour bag fell!" Sylvia smiles says "Nice try dear, I seen you spill it from the corner of my eye, so your responsible for cleaning it up". Alice complains under her breath "Can't wait to have my own place! Get out of here!" Sylvia says "I heard that!" James chimes in "I did too Ma!"

John and Albert walk inside the little house while the flour was still all over on the floor, Albert gulps in embarrassment at the sight of their kitchen and the living room. Albert turns to his new guest John and says "Sorry for the mess but with these kids never know when then house will look like a disaster!" John smiles to reply nicely "Yes I understand my wife and I talk about kids a lot". Sylvia finally gets time to pay attention to Albert and his guest. She says "Oh sorry for my appearance and this house I wasn't expecting any company".

Albert replies "Dear this is John he's our new neighbor in from the south direction, about five miles". Sylvia smiles "Oh someone bought the old Hanson place huh?" John smiles "yes we did mama, nice to meet you, right now we just built a tiny house and dug a well, and we hope to build a bigger house when the land proves itself".

Sylvia smiles to say "Yes we understand don't we Albert?" Albert nods then says "Excuse our manners! Please sit let me take your hat and vest I'll put it on the rack here". John looks around at the untidy kitchen and says "Nice little house you have here".

Sylvia smiles and wipes her hands on her apron that was tied to her dark calico dress that was smeared with stains and ripped. Albert sits down he takes his hat to dust the chair off and makes room on the table by pushing the bowls, dishes off to the side. Sylvia pours the cups of tea and hands them over to Albert and John.

James and Alice Sylvia's two little ones came over and introduced themselves to John and John smiled at the kids gave them a small wooden toy to play with and they do out in the living room on the floor on top of an old worn out rug. John looks around the house that Albert and Sylvia is living may have been a grandeur old cabin at one time but now it's rough looking but everyone seemed happy there.

John talks to Albert a bit, "DO you farm much son?" Albert sips his tea to say "Well what I can some of this ground is not suitable for farming so some of it is in pasture and a possible orchard one day". John "Oh an apple orchard by chance?" Albert nods yes to John's question.

Sylvia then sits with her tea, and pats her huge stomach. She exclaims "We got a lot of trees planted out back but we're not sure if all of them will make it". John smiles and says "Let's hope they do dear". John smiles and then gets up from his place. He states "Well, I am glad I got to meet such nice people out here being the newcomers it's hard to get to know the people in your new neighborhood".

Albert nods and he finishes his tea to say "Yes I am sure it is want me to show you out?" John says "No thanks I got it you been ever so kind, maybe our families can get together some time for supper or something?" Albert smiles and escorts the man to the door with a gentle reply, "Maybe we will see it's a busy time of year right now". John nods and puts on his fancy hat and vest, then leaves. Albert closes the door looks at the untidy unkempt house wishing they would have had more time to make a path.

After his neighbor left Albert sits back down in his chair and demands a cup of tea from Sylvia she pours it for him but she wasn't in her happiest moods. Sylvia complains broken heartedly "Dear, Why did you let him in to see this wreck of a house?" Albert sighs to say "What was I supposed to do? Kick him out to the curb?" Sylvia sits her teapot down on a leather book not moving anything out of the way the shelves were full of clutter papers, books, spice racks, nick knack's little bit of anything.

Albert sighs to say "Well, dear you could get motivated and clean up after these kids a little!" Sylvia was mad now she shoved the hot tea pot on to the floor it clattered letting the last little drops of tea fall to the cracks of the old hard wooden floor, "Albert you know when we first got married you said you get me anything? Well, this wasn't what I meant!" "I mean we live in a dump! Crops had failed several times and you keep farming!" "Albert we can't make it here!"

Sylvia sighs to say "Most of the people who used to live here left, let me tell you, Laura and Alamanzo left, Nellie and her husband left, the Olsen's left no one is taking over the store, the town is gone and so are your folks, my pa left and a lot of others left too!"

Albert throws his fist down to say "NO I won't leave here this is where I grew up and our family is going to to!" Sylvia cries to say "Dear, this town is no more, we got no bank it's not growing here! We're slowly melting away this house is a wreck, no mill to fix anything, we need to think about moving some where!"

Albert gets up to stretch his slim body and Sylvia says through her tears and stained face, messed up tousled hair, "Dear we need a chance to start over the kids need a chance, we need freedom everyone from our childhood left long ago, I think we do too, the well is almost dry, so is the cow, the grass is faltering we're barely surviving come can't we think about moving?"

Albert sighs and then his face gets red he spats out "Why do I have to move! This is Ma and Pa's last place they owned near town! You never said anything until we got company and seen that fancy man walk in here with fancy clothes!" Sylvia lets her tears fall, she says in between her tears, "Dear need to let go, the past is well the past, time for a new beginning elsewhere".

Albert gets up to leave the room after he pushes away some of the kids toys so there was a path in the living room to get to the door. Albert says softly "I am going to work on my project out in the barn for a while". Sylvia drops her skillet a little hard on the stove, Albert didn't pay no mind, he closed the door to the little house and went on out to the barn.

Sylvia got the children all to bed at night, she opens the back door to the kitchen as the sad dust flies up on the porch once again she gets her broom and sweeps a little but it just keeps coming back. She gives up on the sweeping.

Sylvia stops and just stands leaning up against the door frame staring at the night listening to the bull frogs chirping away their springtime songs. She knows the town is dried up, the wheat is not good this year, neither is the hay, she doesn't know if their efforts to save the trees in their orchard will be enough or not.

Let alone themselves. Finally it was time for bed, if Sylvia and Albert could find their bed. There was so much stuff on the floor and piled here and there it was nearly impossible for anyone to sleep in their room. Sylvia for the most part has given up on being a house wife she lets things clutter all over even soiled clothes she has not done laundry in such a long time.

Sylvia shoves the soiled pile of clothes off the bed they just fall onto the floor onto another bigger pile that looks like it has been there for months at a time. She throws her ratty old bed covers off to the side to crawl into bed for some sleep.

Albert finally came in late about eleven o clock when Sylvia was somewhat fast asleep, she didn't bother to talk to Albert much, she just listened to him moan and complain about the untidy house and the smeary stained window they have to look out of every morning.

Albert lies down with half the covers to cover up with he looks out to the smeary stained foggy window pane that used to be bright and cheery when Ma and Pa Ingalls lived here. Now it's a mess of sorts, Albert scratches himself and sighs yawns looks over at Sylvia then tries to imagine a better time when things weren't like how they are now.

Sylvia moans and groans she throws her hands everywhere so much Albert ducks then he looks up out of the covers when the coast was clear and he asks "you okay dear?" Sylvia moans some more "Ohhh…. I think it's time!" Albert says "There's no doctor here dear any more I might have to go get the neighbors to help!" Sylvia moans some more and does some hard breathing, "might…..be ….a …..Good ….ohhh…idea!" Albert gets up in a hurry to get his pants back on and he throws some other piles of clothes around to find a pair of old boots he puts on in a hurry.

Albert throws on an old shirt and suspenders like his pa always did, then he asks her "Need I do anything for you before I go fetch for help?" Ouch! Sylvia complains and breaths more irregular, "no! Ouch! I just need someone! Albert finally stand straight up he make sure James and Alice are still sound asleep, he then replies to Sylvia who is sweaty and moaning, "I'll be back soon dear, hang in there I'll try to not wake the other children". Sylvia nods and then brushes him away she puts her hands on her stomach to say a little prayer.

….

Finally after what seemed like several hours of Sylvia moaning quietly in pain so she wouldn't wake up the little ones, Albert finally came with the new neighbors John and Emily. Emily rushes to Sylvia's aid as a mid-wife, she tells John and Albert to get water to boiling and extra rags. They do that also Albert goes up to the loft to pull the curtain for their door so James and Alice can hopefully keep on sleeping. Sylvia moans louder and louder, Albert shrieks a little and tries hard not to peek through the curtain for their room which Emily used to close off the room. John taps Albert on the shoulder to say "hang in there son it will be okay I have been around town a little this week and see that most of the businesses here have closed up what do you do for supplies these days?" Albert smiles as he tries to rip some cloth and says "Well, I go to sleepy eye a lot cause my step sister and her family is there I visit them sometimes also get my supplies for groceries there".

John nod then says "So I see everyone is forced to go farther out then here". Albert nods "Yes that is how it now, it didn't used to be this way". Sylvia screams in agony and Albert almost jumps out of his chair to rush to Sylvia John stops him. John has taken a liking to Albert he says "Son I think you've had it rough here the last few years?"

Albert pushes the clutter a little further into the middle of their table, he replies slowly "Yes farming has not been one of the best ventures for me, but when my Pa lived here it took him a long time to get this place right?" John smiles, "Nice that you wish to follow in his footsteps". Albert complains a little while their separating some rags to find one clean enough for the baby "My wife Sylvia doesn't think so she keeps talking about moving". John is taken aback by the news he was hoping to become friends with Albert and Sylvia for safety of being out in the frontier land, John says "I hope you're not, are you?"

Albert says "Not on my dead body! My Pa says this place is a special place no matter what this place does or doesn't do it is the legacy of the Ingalls". John smiles to say "Yeah sometimes the women folk don't get pride, legacy, and that stuff". Just then in a brief moment of silence a new scream and cry came out of nowhere Emily rushes out to say "You got a baby girl Albert!"

Albert stands a back; he is surprised to say "A baby girl?" Emily nods happily she gives Albert his baby girl as she quiets as soon as she is in his arms. Albert plays with her a bit then asks "Sylvia how is she?" Emily's face turns solemn then when Albert asks the dreaded question; Albert asks again "How is Sylvia?" Emily opens up finally to say "Sorry, I ….I… did my….Albert is almost yelling "MY wife!?" Now James and Alice are up sitting at the foot of their loft listening to the racket.

Emily is near tears to say "Sorry to give you the bad news but she's past on in her sleep she went right when the baby came". Albert sits down in the chair hard at the news, still holding his new little girl. Albert stammers as he looks around the cluttered house, "I should of…. I should …of listened to her….. she (near tears now), always (crying), talked about moving when the Olsen's left, Albert finally gets out, he tries to be brave when he looks up at the loft to see the sad faces of James and Alice looking at about to cry to.

Albert looks at Emily who was crying to, and asks "Can you hold the baby can I say good bye to Sylvia?" Emily nods gently as she takes a hold of the crying child; Albert disappears behind the rough curtain. Albert slowly walks into the small bedroom where Ma and Pa Ingalls used to rest, now there lays Sylvia deathly quiet and very pale. No color or life coming from her ever again. Albert sits by the edge of the bed. He looks for her hand under the old ragged bed covers, and finds her wedding ring. He cries for several hours, finally lying next to her with his hand in hers wondering how could this have happened. He stays like that with her until the next morning.

…..

When the morning came Emily was cooking for Albert and his family, John went to get the kids outside to play, Albert woke up, he was still in shock at the loss of Sylvia who was still lying in the bed. He gets up and covers her for one last time. Before he does though he takes a long look at her face hair and features as if trying to burn them in his mind forever.

Albert staggers out to the kitchen to see what was going on Emily was there trying to make some scrambled eggs and toast for everyone. Albert looks around like he was lost he asks "Where is the baby?" Emily turns from her cooking to update Albert what was going on.

I got the baby in the living room sleeping in a basket I found, John took James and Alice, are outside playing. , then I called for the reverend he's coming soon. Also I got the eggs done the chores and went to the newspaper office to write up an obituary for Sylvia." Albert was astonished at how fast everyone was pulling their weight; he still had one concerned left, "The rest of the family? They need to be notified… what about him, her pa, his name is Hector Webb?" Emily says "Reverend Alden says he is coming and so is her pa, not happy about the situation but their coming".

Albert smirks and roughly grabs a chair to sit down in; Emily puts eggs on his plate along with toast. Albert just nitpicks through his food. Then John walks in side and says "The reverend is here, I was wondering Albert if I can take the kids to the creek for a while until you know Sylvia is dealt with?" Albert nods and says "Sure thanks John glad the reverend is here".

Reverend Alden comes inside the little rough house on the prairie, with a sad look of despair on his face, to ask solemnly "Where is she?" Albert points to the closed off bedroom where it used to be for Caroline and Charles, instead of eating Albert follows the reverend and listens to the prayers he offers to Sylvia as she makes her crossing to the other side.

Now with that done the funeral was set and arrangements were made rather quickly. Sylvia's father was there along with a lot of other relatives and some of Albert's family too. John and Emily Johnson were there, and Albert's children James and Alice, Emily had Albert's new little girl in her arms at the ceremony. The reverend gave the service and the prayers back behind the Ingalls house.

After Reverend Alden has said the last words to his service Albert puts up the handmade marker he made for his beloved Sylvia. Albert sits there looking at the sad dirt and marker. The Reverend ushers everyone who attended Sylvia's funeral away from the grave spot. Albert looks back at everyone who left the place to see if he was alone with her. Albert then turns back to the marker it read something like this:

Sylvia May Webb- Ingalls

Born: April 10, 1781

Death: April 12, 1820

May she rest in peace My love.

Albert places a flower on her grave site and looks up to the sunny hot dry sky to see birds flying around. He reads the tombstone once more and scratches the dates in his note book for safe keeping.

Then he looks sad at the marker again and he remembers his new little girl and sighs to say "Dear Sylvia my beloved, how I will miss you in the days to come, you was the light of my life, our new little girl will never know you in person she will grow up to miss you". After Albert said that the loneness came back, he was in a stupor again. The reverend had to come get him away from Sylvia he was laying on the ground where her marker was.

Reverend Alden said gently "Albert needs to get up son got to go in the house". Albert forcefully shrugs off the Reverend and Mr. Alden gives up, Hector Webb comes over to say "Want me to give it a try?" Mr. Alden says "Be my guest, he won't budge for me". Hector says gently to Albert and tries to pull him up off the ground "Come on son pull yourself together here, the kids don't want to see this! I'll help."

Hector does get Albert to the house but as everyone can tell he is still not with it yet. John and Emily decide to take the children for a few days and the reverend agrees that be a good idea. Hector Webb decided he would stay with Albert to keep a close eye on him since all he does is sit in the rocker that Sylvia used to rock the children to sleep without saying a word to anyone. (What will happen next: TO be Continued).


End file.
